The PATSSITUATIE in Phuskar has not completely ended. Our globetrotters, shaken by an early morning visit of rats, are heading further through India.  Their next goal is Nepal.  A visit to Bhutan (India) is cancelled.

They want to reach Nepal – still some thousands kilometers away in March. 

At the bordercrossing from India to Nepal, in Varanassi, they will get a visum for 2 months.  They are well aware that “not moving is the same as walking backwards”, they have decided to cycle through India by bicycle.  By making some phonecalls with embassies and Foreign Affairs they got the assurance that there is absolutely no problem with travelling in Nepal.  It is safe.

The next country after Nepal is China.  They are very busy now making the necessary contacts for their visit to China !   Together with their sponsor in Brussels and some Chinese friends they are making arrangements.

“The past few days are never to forget”, Nicole tells us.  “We didn’t sleep a wink.  One day, there was this noisy wedding in our hotel, next time there was singing in a nearby temple.  Another night there was this drumfestival. In Kekri,

a village where it was so quiet, we were woken up in a very original way !  We sleep under a mosquito-net, but in the middle of the night, I woke up because something was creeping over my face.  I hit it and I immediately heard this tripping.  I got very nervous and I t thought : an animal, a mouse.  I looked for my pocket-torch and I looked straight in the eyes of … a rat !  It had nibbled a whole in my mosquito-net, but now it was trapped like a…. rat.   Ingrid and I jumped like rabbits out of our bed and stood on a chair !  There were four, five rats in our room.  Our own bloody fault !  One of our bagpacks was open and in there were chips, cookies , cheese, etc.  A great meal for a rat and his family, Nicole still sighs.

“That night we were the reason for “a noisy night” and much disturbance because we hit, yelled, chunked to get the animals out.   We then set out our tent in our room and we tied everything very carefully.  So we could catch a few hours of sleep. But, we haven’t slept much anymore.”